“Did everyone leave?” I ask the guy.
“I kicked ‘em out. Now: you need to tell me who the fuck you are before I call the cops.”
Shane starts choking. And then dry-heaving. He’s bent forward, face turning purple and he’s making an awful wretching sound. It’s as if he’s hurling invisible vomit into the air.
“Shane!” I rush over and smack his back. He seems to recover on his own.
“Hey Jayjay,” he greets.
“Oh my God, Shane.”
“What’s up, sis?”
The girl gets to her feet while pulling a sweater over her head. “This party is lame, Shane,” she says. “Let’s take it to my place. I got some pills that’ll get you hard.”
“Yeah, babe, sure.” He stumbles after her, putting his junk away, his pants still undone.
I clap my palm over my eyes and shake my head.
“Shane!” I call out. “Do not go anywhere. We have to talk. Shane! Hey!”
“It’s all right, sis. It’s all good. See ya tomorrow, JayJay. Love you.” He blows me a kiss and stumbles out behind the girl.
I go to follow. “Wait…”
“Excuse me, who the fuck are you and what’s going on here?” The guy in the doorway blocks me.
“I have to go stop him from leaving.”
He refuses to budge, and I do something totally unlike me. I push past him and storm to the living area and see that the people are all gone, but the apartment is a disaster. I run into the hallway. The elevator doors are closing. Shane is gone.
Damn it. Damn it. I trudge back into the apartment, cussing under my breath as I take in the disaster area.
There are cups, beer cans, and booze bottles. The couch cushions are mostly on the floor and someone spilled a drink on the rug. There’s laughter from the hallway.
I turn in that direction and spot Kevin making out with a girl against the wall?
This is a cluster-fuck.
This is going to get back to Aiden.
I might even get charged for this.
Damn it, Shane!
“Hey!” the guy behind me barks.
“Sorry about the noise. I had no idea he’d throw a party while I was out. I apologize.” I hold the door and gesture for the guy to leave. “It won’t happen again.”
I am totally pretending he didn’t come in here with a suitcase. I’m praying that’s a coincidence, that Aiden hasn’t turned this into an Airbnb.
The guy’s jaw flexes. “One more time. Who… the fuck… are you?” He’s glaring at me.
My eyes rove over him and then it hits me. The resemblance to Aiden.
The suitcase.
The scowl. Definitely reminiscent of Aiden Carmichael.
Oh no.
Oh shit.
He does look like Aiden. Eyes are different, blue instead of chocolate brown, hair is a little lighter, but the jaw, the nose, the scowl.
He folds his arms over his chest.
“I’m, um…” I wince.
I can’t even think, can’t form words, so I shake my head and then move into the kitchen and get a glass of water and chug it.
He looks angry. Really angry as he watches me glug it down. He levels me with a dark gaze. “That’s it. I’m calling the cops.”
He pulls a cell phone from his pocket.
I choke on water and lunge to grab the phone from his hand. “D-don’t do that. Cough cough. I can cough cough explain.” I grab the phone from his hand.
“Do not fucking touch my shit!” He levels me with a hate-stare.
I cough a bit more and try to catch my breath.
I set his phone back in his hand and he takes it from me like I’ve got the cooties or something.
“My water went down the wrong way,” I defend.
This guy is pissed. Not that I can blame him, but I’m pissed too. I can’t believe Shane did this, can’t believe the state of this apartment.
The guy looks around. “You wanna explain who you are, why you’re here, and why this place is trashed?” He looks me over from head to toe as if to mentally add, ‘and you can explain why you’re dressed in that getup?’ He doesn’t make that last statement, but I’m sure my outfit is not going to help me talk my way out of this mess.
I wince. “I realize how this looks. Are you related to Aiden?”
He glares at me.
“I’m Jada. I’m uh…”
“The housekeeper?” He cocks an eyebrow and then looks around and both eyebrows shoot up. “I was afraid of that.”
I look around, too. Yeah, the place did not look like this when I left earlier.
Damn, it, Shane!
“I was. I was his housekeeper and personal shopper. Listen, I’m sorry, but there’s just been a series of unfortunate events, and I’ve been trying to get ahold of Aiden to tell him I’m here, and-”
“Forget it. You’re fired. Get your stuff and go. I’ll hire somebody else.”
I stare, in a daze, as everything feels like it’s falling on me. All of it, stress, worry, despair… it’s piling on me like bricks falling from the sky and I’m about to crumble under the weight of it.